“Aloha” is a movie that is not very good at all, mostly because it can’t decide it if wants to be a story about a disgraced military contractor moving on from past mistakes, or about a guy reconnecting with an old love and coming to terms with their new lives, or about a guy meeting a gal and how they fall in love with each other, or about the militarization and annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. government, or the appreciation of Hawaiian culture and how the “white man” keeps tearing it down by making promises to the locals and then betraying them, or about coming to terms with being a parent, or about the U.S. military engaging in private contracts with multi-billionaires. This all combined somehow into one movie and made for a mess of a picture.

“Aloha” starts with Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) arriving in Hawaii, where he sees some people he hasn’t seen in years, namely before he totally sold his soul to be a contractor facilitating arms deals in the Middle East (or something like that). He sees old flame Tracy (Rachel McAdams) and meets her children for the first time, which includes a 12 year old daughter who happened to come in to this world less than a year after Brian and Tracy broke up. Hmmm, I wonder if this will come back around in some way (of course it does, it is telegraphed from the opening). Brian puts on the puppy eyes and sort of tries to get back in with Tracy, though romantic overtures don’t seem to be what he’s really after, especially since he’s kinda buddy-buddy with Tracy’s current husband Woody (John Krasinski).Continue Reading …